Customers dine and dash at Ivy City Smokehouse: 'When something like this happens, we all lose'

Customers dine and dash at Northeast restaurant

A local restaurant owner is upset and tired of people skipping out on their checks. FOX 5’s Shomari Stone has the story.

WASHINGTON - A local restaurant owner is upset after a couple of customers recently skipped out on the check.

Peter Loftus is the owner of Ivy City Smokehouse in Northeast. Loftus told FOX 5 it got really bad during the pandemic and it continues. He says it's happened four times over the past couple of months.

This past Sunday, two men and two women were caught on surveillance cameras sitting at a table, holding menus, talking to the waitress, and ordering their food. Moments later, the waitress brought their meals, and after they finished eating, the restaurant owner says the video shows them getting up – out of their chairs, and walking right out, without paying.

The restaurant's patrons and Loftus are upset.

"When something like this happens, we all lose — the owner, the staff loses, the kitchen, everyone loses, especially the server," Loftus said.

"I can’t believe it quite honestly, because we’re honest people, and so we don’t do that. So I find it a little disgusting and quite honestly, tacky," said Debbie Melvin, an Ivy City Smokehouse patron.

D.C. police are investigating the incident, and urging anyone with information to give them a call.